Friday

Good morning,

Quote of the day:

“If England treats her criminals like she treated me, she doesn't deserve to have any.”

Oscar Wilde

Oscar Wilde was jailed for having a years long homosexual affair with the son of the Marquis of Queensbury...the son was not jailed, however.

A couple of days ago I wrote about my trip to Omaha Beach for the ceremony honoring the 60^th Anniversary of D-Day. Some people showed interest about other events during that trip, if any. Here is a continuation. My companion and I flew from Charlotte, NC (I was living there then) to Newark, NJ. We left Newark in a British Airways Boeing 777 at about 10:00p EST headed to Heathrow airport near London. We landed at about 8:30a London time and arrived at our hotel about 10:00a. I did not sleep a wink as is my nature and I don't think my companion did either. The front desk said that our room would not be ready until about 1:30p. They had a bar (named Humphrey's) in the lobby that did not open until that afternoon. So my companion and I ducked under the red rope into the bar, crawled under one of the tables and went to sleep. We were awakened about 1:35p and told our room was ready. We went to the room, unpacked, took a shower and slept some more. Then we found the Stanhope Pub. More about this later

Recently those in charge of The Citadel decided to continue to allow the Confederate flag to fly over this institution. The Citadel is a private military school in Charleston, SC. It seems that some people were “offended” and wanted the flag removed permanently. Did y'all notice I wrote that it is a “private” institution meaning they can fly any freaking flag they want. I am not offended nor is anyone in my social group, do we count? What I am offended by is those people that do not know one scintilla of the history of this nation. All the hell they know is someone told them that they should be offended by the Confederate flag because it means the advocacy of slavery. That is not what it means to me and I am very, very knowledgeable as to what happened between 1861 and 1865. Included in that time period cadets from the Citadel assisted in the bombardment and surrender of Fort Sumter in Charleston harbor. This volunteer action cost of several of their lives. That flag flies over Citadel to this day in their honor. Someone asked me what that flag means to me and I said “It represents the death of about 640,000 Americans in a tragic war. That is all I need to know.” Here is a quote: “Find out for yourself about what really happened because if you just believe what you are told then it is you that is the slave.” That quote is mine.

Here is a story told by deceased Civil War historian Shelby Foote:

He said that there was a squad of about 8 Confederates surrounded by a company of Union infantry. A Union officer demanded their surrender to no avail. The Confederates continued to fight ferociously until there was only one Confederate left alive but not before grabbing his rifle by the barrel and swinging it like a baseball bat. Finally the Confederate was wrestled to the ground and subdued. Afterward he was asked why he fought so desperately. He DID NOT say “Because I want that fat cat down in Mississippi to be able to keep his slaves.” What he DID SAY was “Because y'all are down here.”

All of you know that a while back North Korea had threatened to blow up the world because the US and South Korea are holding military maneuvers. The US Air Force had supersonic and stealth bombers cruising over South Korea along with nuclear submarines thick and fleas in the Yellow Sea. There is no question in this horse's mind that the North Koreans were just blowing a lot of smoke to see what they would have to deal with in case of real war. This tactic is an old one going back to the Bible and the exploits of Joshua and the Israeli army. There were many incidents where Joshua would bluff an infantry attack so he could see what power he was facing. The day before the final attack on the Alamo, Mexican General Santa Ana ordered a daylight infantry attack and withdrew after a short time. The defenders realized that the attack was just so he could “count the guns”. He knew where the weaknesses were after this. He ordered an all out attack the next night and focused the heaviest attack at the weaknesses he had seen the day before. As you know, he was successful....for a while. About two weeks later General Sam Houston ordered his troops to attack the encamped army of Santa Ana and they were all but annihilated in 18 minutes. Remember the Alamo! Are you reading this Nancy and Ted?

This Date in History June 12

1862 Earlier General George McClellan had persuaded his military superiors to allow him to bring the Army of the Potomac, 120,000 strong, to the James River peninsula by ship and attack Richmond from the southeast rather than from the obvious direction from the north. The plan had merit but how do you unload 120,000 troops and their associated accouterments without being noticed. They were indeed noticed and the Army of Northern Virginia 60,000 strong, CSA General Robert E. Lee commanding, headed down the peninsula to see what McClellan had in mind. What resulted was later known as the Battle of the Seven Days in which these gigantic armies slugged it out for seven days with McClellan admitting defeat and he took his young ass and his army back to the end of the peninsula and headed back north. But before the battles began in earnest, on this date General Lee tasked his cavalry commander, CSA General J.E.B. Stuart and 1,200 troopers, to reconnoiter McClellan’s left flank for weaknesses. Stuart started out and took a look at the Yankee left but decides to keep going eventually rode completely around the Army of the Potomac arriving back to Lee with a wealth of information but not before raising hell with McClellan’s supply wagons. The ironic thing about this whole trip was that Stuart was chased by several Yankee cavalry units, one of which was lead by US General Phillip St. George Cooke. General Cooke was Stuart’s father-in-law. After the battles began observers said that they could see McClellan begin to sag when he saw how battle chopped and mutilated his men. It is believed that the horror of this vision took most of the fight out of him and later he was relieved because the lack of energy and aggressiveness. In truth, I think it might have the same effect on most of us.

Thanks for listening I can hardly wait until tomorrow